Star Trek: Ensigns Episode IV: Colder than a Breen
by jaimemventers
Summary: Fourth episode of Star Trek Ensigns, it is part two of a three part story arc. Sorry it took so long, I need a new Beta. As always, I don't own Star Trek, please don't sue me.


**Star Trek: Ensigns**

**Episode IV**

**Colder than a Breen's heart**

…Continued from Episode III

"Jameson here sir, engineering is secure, the officer in charge, a Lieutenant Rister was the last one out, it's under lockdown now, no trouble accessing the system in full. We are missing two environmental suits, somebody might be heading to an air lock." said a voice coming out of Bruce Jackson's communicator.

"Excellent work, Mike. That's the last department, hang around till Sam arrives, then start checking the rest of the floor, pretty soon this ship will be ours in full " came the reply from Bruce "Now we just need to hear back from Xavier.:

At that moment shuttlecrafts Kodiak, Nunivak, Saint Lawrence, Alognak, and the Montague were on a silent approach to a meteor. They were traveling at full impulse, staying ten degrees below the horizon of the island in space. They arrived and spread out to each land at a different point, knowing that Bruce Jackson's people could easily take out a whole shuttle while it was in transit. The probe had shown that there was a passive atmospheric bubble shield kept in place by independent solar generators, there were fifteen people at a camp, all heavily armed with disruptors, phasers and explosive devices, the crew of the Alaska would need the element of surprise if they wanted to capture Bruce Jackson and his people with a minimal loss of life on either side. They suddenly rose up to four meters above the land surface, gliding through the atmospheric barrier and descended, landing smoothly, cockpit pointing towards the camp at the center of the plane. The back hatch of each shuttle popped open and a security person came around the corner on the left and right of each shuttle, they then started running towards the camp, weapons drawn. This pattern repeated, two people came out of each shuttle right after the last two left, one on the left and one on the right, each one had their phaser rifle at eye level, with a wrist mounted tricorder actively scanning for any life form, explosive, energy field or unusual pocket of density in the soil. Lieutenant Rozenski and his partner Lieutenant Limmer were the first to arrive at the camp's edge, star fleet personnel from the other shuttles arriving less than a second later. Lieutenant Rozenski shouted out "Throw down your weapons and come out with your hands up" towards the center of camp. There was no response. "Surrender now! Come out with your hands up" shouted Lieutenant Rozenski again. "If you do not come out at the count of three, we will open fire!" shouted Lieutenant Register. He then said to his communicator "stun grenades and flash bangs on three."

"One…Two…Three!" shouted the security chief. He then threw a stun grenade while others threw flash bang charges. All thrown devices landed with a thud, there were no flashes, no bangs, and no energy waves from the stun grenades. Most of the Starfleet personnel looked around in confusion, with the senior officers then checking the charges of their phaser rifles, discovering that they were nearly empty. Captain Dallas looked up to her people and then shouted "Everyone fall back"

"Actually Miss Dallas, I think you should stay where you are, "said a voice from behind her. She turned and saw a tall bald human male, barrel-chested with a long brown beard. He had a machete in one hand and in the other an antique looking projectile weapon.

"Who are you?" she asked

"I'm Jeremiah ma'am. Bruce Jackson asked me to apologize for not being here, but he had to take control of your ship. Now the war with the Breen can really begin. My men will be happy to take care of you and your folk, just don't try anything funny and we won't have to test the effectiveness of our guns, "he said, a smile spreading across his broad face.

"There's fifteen of you and twenty five of us. Even without effective weapons we still have an advantage, "she said angrily through her teeth.

"No darling, we have even numbers, you just don't realize who's on what side yet," He said quietly to her.

"You're bluffing," was her response.

"You don't believe me? I'm hurt. Well, if you insist on testing your theory, you go right ahead, see who shoots you in the back first." She looked at him and swallowed hard, turning to look at her people. The majority of her crew was now on their knees and had their hands in restrictor cuffs behind their backs. She saw Ensign Hess from security drop his phaser rifle and communicator badge, and be handed a projectile rifle. She saw Lieutenant Pulaski, one of the ships nurses do the same, followed by Lieutenant Germanotti and Ensign Cox. Finally, with shock and horror, she saw Commander Xavier Valientine, her most trusted and senior bridge officer, smile at her while trading his equipment and loyalty to the New Earth People. "Xavier! Why?" she screamed

."It's very simple captain. With this war we can get rid of this alien trash and rebuild the galaxy as we see fit" He said smugly. "I will finally be recognized for my talent as a natural born leader and will have a starship of my own, and you, my dear captain, can go back to shaking your bottom for money in shady clubs"

"Shaking her bottom? So that's what this captain is good for Xavier?" beamed Jeremiah. Gasps arose from the away team.

"Most people don't know it, but our dear Captain here used to be a nightclub dancer before entering star fleet. It's rumored that that's how she got to the Captains chair so fast, a special private performance for Admiral Picard," Xavier chuckled; the Captains face growing red with rage.

"I earned the Captains chair Xavier. I was first officer aboard the Egypt for three years with 32 successful engagements during the dominion war. I was the operations officer for two years on the excelsior and earned that post starting out on the Enterprise as an ensign doing third shift navigation; before that I was valedictorian from star fleet academy, where I tutored two students who almost washed out, you and our host Bruce Jackson, don't you dare question my effort!" she growled.

"I'm not questioning that at all Captain, I'm just wondering why you never saw this coming? Bruce and I let you write our papers while we got extra practice in at the weapons range. We let you waste time on science and research while we learned enough hand to hand combat techniques to get into elite commando squads. We laughed at your fraternizing with Andorians, Vulcans, and every other piece of space trash that was in an authoritative position; we saw what they really were, using humans like you just like you tried to use them, and it really is quite disgusting. But enough strolling down memory lane, we've got a galaxy to conquer," he said.

."Alright star fleet folk, enough entertainment. I need you to be sitting in clusters of four, your backs facing each other. My people are going to be patrolling we catch you plotting, we dislocate your shoulders. You try to escape, you get shot. Rations will be provided three times a day for the length of your stay. If you need to relieve yourselves let one of the guards know, we'll escort you one at a time to the latrine, any questions?"

"Yeah, how long are you planning on keeping us?" asked Lieutenant Commander Register.

"Not too long, I expect not more than a couple of days. Once we have full control of the Alaska we're going to all be picked up. Then we're going to get you within communications range of a human colonized planet, put you in escape pods, and let you go, "replied Xavier. "Speaking of which, I need to com Bruce. Master Chief Jeremiah, may I use your radio?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Valientine, sir, it's in the rust colored tent closest to the center," Jeremiah said while giving a salute with extra flourish, Xavier responded with an identical salute and chuckling. With some prodding from their captors, each member of the away team sat back to back in clusters of four, a chain linking their wrist restraints to one another.

He walked to the tent, occasionally glancing about, and saw members of the Omega team standing about. He stopped and spoke to them, and was able to confirm that they were only with New Earth out of a need to survive. He also found that all members of Omega were here except one, Captain Samuel Addams. Mr. Addams had to be one of the traitors. Star Fleet knew that Omega's doctor was a member and suspected that he had converted the group's captain to the New Earth Movement. Xavier found the Rust Colored tent and the radio within. There was one person sitting near the radio, he smiled at seeing Xavier and stood up. Xavier did his best to not look like he recognized Omega's doctor standing in front of him, but this made the plan even better. "Bruce and Jeremiah told me you'd be coming, I'll be outside, let me know when you're finished," the man said as he left the tent. The radio, like most of the technology in the camp looked like it should have been in a museum, instead of a microphone or a keyboard there was a metal plate hovering over a bolt, each set into a block of wood, it was a Morse key. He tuned the radio to a specific frequency and tapped a message in Morse code, _arrived, kids are with sitter, awaiting pick up._ After that he unplugged the antenna from the radio and pulled something small out of his mouth, a plastic ring which he then looped over the plug that went from antenna to radio. The plastic ring glowed briefly before fading to match the color of the plug. He then plugged the antenna back in and left to head back towards the prisoners.

He returned to the group, standing next to Jeremiah. He turned to Jeremiah and said "Message to Bruce is sent; now the waiting begins."

"Bruce, just got a message from base, it's from Xavier, he says arrived, kids with sitter, awaiting pick up" came in over the Bruce's communicator.

"Good, Michael, send a message back, we will be there in 6 hours" he replied. "Okay, now, I know you don't like being held captive, but I will need your assistance if you wish to remain here on the bridge. My men can do this but since you people know the ship controls better it will be easier if you simply assist. I need the Navigational deflector brought up to full power, set it to a repulsor resonance at 1.326 terawatts, full frontal, we're clearing the street. Helmsman, full impulse" when he finished the crew of the Alaska turned their attention from him to Commander Tourej. "Go ahead and do it. Bera, run the deflector as stated, Ulrik, you have the helm."

"Okay" replied the Ensigns. Bera began adjusting the deflector controls and the viewscreen showed a growing hole in the wall of space rocks. The hole grew wide enough and deep enough for the ship to begin entering. Bera then said "I'm getting a bit of feedback from all sides, it's like the meteors are pushing back"

"That's because they are you chunky blue bint. They are made of highly magnetized iron and silicon, over the centuries they've established magnetic bonds to their neighbors, when this bond is stretched they push back. If one of the rocks is destroyed they all close in to fill the gap" replied one of the hijackers.

Bera turned and looked at him, eyes seething with rage. "I am NOT chunky, I am muscular," she snarled.

"Heh. Muscular. You may have spent time at the gym but you're still weak. I'd put my human muscles up against your poorly developed physique any day of the week," he replied.

"Really? How about you put down that gun and we can do that, right here and right now," Bera said with a grin.

"Okay, then," he said as he put down his disruptor rifle and assumed a fighting stance.

"STEVENS!" shouted Bruce Jackson, who had been watching the commotion "You will pick your weapon up mister and you will do your job. Did you not read the security assessment report? That's Ensign Bera; she's a cage fighting champion in dozens of leagues. You let her get a hand on you and she'll break every bone in your body before you can think about asking for mercy. Now, Mr. Stevens, did you see what she did to the Deflector?"

"Yes sir, the controls are laid out just as I thought, operating them will be no problem" he said

"Good, then we don't need miss Bera on the bridge do we? Okay gentlemen, keep your weapons on her and cuff her. Mr. Kingston, you get the honor of escorting our guest to the brig, she's far too dangerous to have in her quarters. Also, Mr. Foster, Miss uh, Tourej, I'm going to need to ask you two to go into the captains office, you'll be locked in there, all computer and communication features have been deactivated to that room, you will have access to a replicator and toilet, and I'm pretty sure the captain will have a traditional style futon in there if you get tired" he turned back to ensign Bera "A bit ironic, don't you think ensign? A security officer being locked into the brig?" Bruce snickered.

The two terrorists kept their weapons raised while putting cuffs on her.

"Yeah, real funny," Bera growled as they led her into the turbolift. The doors to the lift closed.

Kingston said "brig" and started down. After a few moments it stopped suddenly, and all the lights went out. Kingston hit his communicator, which did not react. He pushed the on button for his flashlight which glowed for half a second, and died. "What the hell is going on?" he said to the darkness surrounding him before hitting his communicator repeatedly. Finally, he heard a voice come over his communicator, but it was not one he had ever heard.

"Greetings terrorist," said the voice, which Bera recognized immediately as her roommate, Seja. "You may have noticed that you have lost all power and your communications have been nullified. I have connected an energy dampening field with a field charge capacitor to this lift, which means it has drained the power from your weapons, flashlight, and as you are about to experience, the restraint cuffs on Bera." At that moment the cuffs fell with a heavy thud on the floor of the lift.

Ensign Seja, who stood on top of the lift, heard the slightly disturbing sounds of bones breaking and joints dislocating for the next few moments. Once there were no more sounds coming from the lift she opened the hatch, shining her own flashlight into the compartment. She saw that Bera had taken a man and hog tied him with his own digits. "Bera, you do know that human fingers and toes weren't designed to bend like that, right?"

"Yeah, but I think he looks better this way. He's at least quieter," she said.

."Right. Here, put this on," Seja said as she tossed something down to Bera.

"What is it?" she asked as she picked it up. It looked like a heavily padded body suit complete with hood. There were a few unknown and possibly modified devices connected to the belt. "It's an engineering environmental suit. They are designed to regulate a specific internal temperature; we use them when working in the computer cores. If you wear it inside out you can program it to radiate ambient temperatures, thus masking your natural body temperature and defeating any heat sensing scanners," she said.

"So that's how you've been avoiding them, heat masking and hiding in lift shafts?" Bera said as she lifted herself onto the roof of the lift. "Actually I've been mostly in the Computer core, rewiring it. I managed to write a worm program that quietly inserted itself into the Lone Wolfs computer and is taking it over without alerting anyone, so now I have control of parts of it using a small subroutine of the ships computer while it controls the rest of the ships computer." She said as she walked over to an open Jefferies tube.

"So we can unlock the doors and arrest them now?" Bera said excitedly.

"Not exactly, the program controls only about ten percent of our ships systems. It can only make small changes at any one moment; it needs time to fully infect their computer core and ours. Plus even after we have full computer control we still don't know where the captain and the landing party is" Seja said as she climbed through the Jefferies tube.

"I know where they are. I saw the course we were taking before they shackled me." Bera said.

"Still, even if we had full computer control, we have only our hands against their weapons." As Seja said that, Bera cracked her knuckles. "Okay, I see your point, and that works for you, but I want to wait until the captain and landing party are back. If I understand their plan correctly, we can insure everyone's safe and take the ship back in one swell foop."

"Swell foop?" Bera asked.

"It's a phrase Daniel used. I'm not sure of the meaning but it sounds right. I hope he's okay."

"I thought you two weren't going to get emotionally involved," Bera chided.

"I miss a friend, Bera. I also miss Neric. Don't you?"

"Of course I do, but your body language reads differently about those two. You read passionately on a physical level about Neric, but not as emotionally as you do with Daniel."

"Okay, there's no way you can read all of that while looking at my rear as we crawl in this Jefferies tube," she said, looking back at Bera over her shoulder.

"It's not just in here. I've seen subtle differences in your behavior for weeks depending on which of them you are with, although the hormones you broadcast are quite different between those two and I can definitely read in here," she said.

"Bera, as your roommate and friend, please do me a favor. Don't sniff me anymore, or at least don't let me know about it, "Seja said as she resumed belly crawling through the Jefferies tube.

"Okay. Where are we going?" Bera asked.

"The only safe place I know of; Computer core three, roughly six hundred meters distance from here, plus a few ladders," she said.

"Three? You mean Old Sparky? I think two is closer, and safer," Bera said nervously.

"Three is safest for hiding in. It's the only one that doesn't have a bio-neural interlinking," Seja replied.

"Uh, yeah, it also was salvaged from a ship destroyed in a plasma storm. I heard that the spirits of the crew of the Odyssey still haunt it. I've heard of three people who've suffered mysterious plasma burns when they went to service it." Bera said

"It's all just blue feathers," she said.

"Huh?"

"Sorry. Colloquialism. It means it's just fear-based fabrications. The number of plasma burns is within the acceptable range, I've spent hours in there and never seen or heard a ghost, the unit is safe. Plus the high level of ion discharges from it will further help mask our presence." she said

"High levels of Ion discharges? So it really does spark?" Bera said, mortified

"Oh yes, there are times when it's a bit like being in a lightning storm, it's where Tourej had the Engineering department meet and greet" Seja said with a grin.

"You engineers really are all crazy." Bera said

"Yes, and that's the way we like it" replied Seja.

Commander Valientine was walking around the perimeter of the camp, watching his crew, watching the guards, watching the camp in general. He noticed that security chief register was staring at Mr. DePalma intently, and blinking. He would stop blinking and be motionless while Mr. DePalma started blinking, rapidly. _Blink code, brilliant, I taught them that_, _can't read it though; they've changed the sequence, definitely putting them in for a promotion, assuming we all survive this_ he thought. He walked over to Mr. DePalma, squatted down in the space between him and Mr. Register and looked at each, blinking quickly a code that he taught them, he blinked slowly with the left eye once then two rapid blinks with right, followed by two rapid on the left and one rapid on the right. It all added up to one simple word he hoped they remembered, act.

DePalma responded with the code for trust, and then a look downward, which translated to I don't trust you.

Valientine then looked at Register who blinked out the code for watched, implying they were being watched. Valientine then looked to DePalma and blinked out the word for radio, then the number three hundred, and finally seconds.

Five minutes later, there was a loud yell from the center of camp, the tent with the radio in it was on fire and the man who had been guarding it shooting at anyone who approached the tent with an extinguisher. The man then lobbed a grenade at a large tent, three men attempted to run out of it before the grenade exploded, two of them didn't make it. All the lights in the camp were suddenly out. He was finally tackled by Valientine, and kept shouting "Bruce told me to do it! He said burn it all and trust no one".

"Jeremiah, where's your doctor? This man sounds delusional" said the Commander

"The only up med is the man you're on, he was the doc on the Lone Wolf." Jeremiah said, sounding very despondent.

"Okay, bring Ensign Neric over here, he's a doctor."

"Which one is he? "

"Scruffy looking Bajoran, two clusters to the left of the captain, chained to ensign MacLaren, I pointed him out earlier as a hopeful. He'll need his med kit too." Valientine said, still struggling to keep the radio operator down. Jeremiah walked off, shouting out

"Quinones, Faulkner, get the fires out and get to the generator now! The battery back ups won't hold for more than an hour." Within a few minutes the fires were all out, the generator was being worked on and Jeremiah was carrying Dr. Neric over his shoulder, medical kit in one hand.

"Xavier, I'm passing this message to my people and to the Alaska crew. Anyone does anything out of line or suspicious, I kill them, no questions asked. That goes for you too. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not having the camp be ruined on my watch, you got it?" he said, dropping the doctor like a sack of potatoes.

"Yeah Jeremiah, I got it. Is this going to affect the air or gravity?" he said.

"Nah, they on a different system, we're fine on those fronts" he said

One of the terrorists came running from the generator tent to Jeremiah and said "sir, it's no good, she's ruined."

"What do you mean she's ruined? You told me yesterday that you had enough spare parts to build a second one within thirty minutes." Jeremiah scowled

"Yeah but the spare primary and secondary induction coils were in the radio tent, the ones in the generator are completely shattered. Half the burning shards that shot out into other tents were from those two coils. It would take us at least a week to make new ones unless the lone wolf comes back" he said

"Great. Any ideas Xavier?" Jeremiah asked

"Not really. Don't you have a portable industrial replicator from the Lone Wolf?" said Xavier

"It's still on the ship. Her Captain doesn't trust me, thought it would be better to take it with him" said Jeremiah.

"Do we have any other method of contacting Bruce?" Valientine asked.

"I might. I can fire off an old style laser beam in the direction of the Alaska, hope someone notices it and starts to investigate. I'll go set it up, stay with the doctor." Jeremiah said before walking off.

Xavier knelt down near Doctor Neric and said quietly "Your patient needs to have noticeable wounds treated and be heavily sedated, but don't look too deeply into his conditions."

"I'm a doctor, I treat the whole patient, not just the surface" Neric responded without looking at Xavier.

Xavier grabbed the doctor by the chin, turning Nerics head to face him "Then treat him, just don't mention that he shows signs of exposure to vaporized Lithium Phenoral 80."

"Vaporized Lithium Phenoral 80? But that would cause-"Neric started to say

"Hallucinations and paranoid delusions- now I need you treat him and shut up." Xavier said.

"I can give him an injection that will erase all traces of it without leaving evidence of the treatment. The inoculation against Stringer's would take care of it and leave his immune system weakened to certain strains of mining illness. In this environment a build up of the Reman pox virus would produce nearly identical symptoms in a human and is almost inevitable" said the doctor.

"You wouldn't happen to have any of that on you would you?" asked Xavier

"A small sample, I can give him half a dose after the Stringer's but it will take a while to build to believable levels. The other half would need to be placed in a common vector, the latrines would be the most likely vector" replied the doctor.

"Do it and don't mention this to anyone" said Xavier

"Yes sir" replied the doctor.

"Do you have a problem with these orders, doctor?" he asked

"No sir, right now obedience seems the best choice for survival" Neric said.

"Keep that in mind, doctor." Xavier said as he stood up. The doctor prepared three hypo sprays, injecting his patient with one and waiting about thirty seconds before applying the second. The third he tucked into his sleeve before closing up the med kit, standing up and looking at Valientine, saying "request permission to use the latrines, sir"

"Right this way doctor." Valientine said. Xavier spotted one of the terrorists standing on guard and said to him "keep an eye on the radio officer, he's sedated now, but if he should wake tell someone immediately."

"Yes sir. Sir, do we know what happened?" he replied.

"Jury's still out, but the doctor has a few ideas." Xavier replied.

"It's not lupus is it?" asked another guard

"It's never lupus; that was cured by Dr. Maison over 200 years ago," said the doctor as he headed into the latrine.

Meanwhile, at another part of the camp ensign MacLaren had nearly finished sawing through his wrist cuffs. He was lucky to have been given a self recharging micro plasma whittler for his fifteenth birthday by his dad, and was equally lucky to have started hiding it in his sleeve shortly after that. It was small enough to not be noticed when he was frisked; it charged itself off free floating ions and was silent. It was intended to make artistic representations from small pieces of wood, but he had been using it slowly to chew threw the cuffs and was less than a centimeter from freedom. The question now became what to do once he had use of his hands. While pondering this two of the camp guards stopped a few feet behind Daniel, and were talking casually about primitive distillation methods. Daniel had to suddenly get the tool back up his sleeve without being noticed. He had managed to give his own wrist severe plasma burns already. One of the guards walked off, only one. The other guard started to walk off but stopped, kneeling down to Daniel, whispering "Kid, I'm going to save your life by replacing those restraints you've been altering. Not everything here is as you think. When the manure hits the spreader, get to the shuttle and start it up ASAP, don't be a hero, just do it" and then walked off.

Back on the Alaska, Bruce Jackson was pacing the bridge. "Shouldn't Kingston be back by now? Stevens, where does the computer show him?" he asked, looking to the back of the bridge.

"Uh, the computer is showing him still in the lift, but the lift isn't responding to commands, it's just stuck between floors nineteen and twenty. The log shows Bera checked into the brig but the security camera isn't responding and I can't get any sensor readings from in there" he said.

"Find whoever is closest, have them visually check the brig and then get Kingsley out of the lift. Tell them they may need to repel from the floor above. I want a sensor sweep of all Jefferies tubes and double check the ship wide census, make sure no one is out of place. Something smells fishy."

"Sir, sensors are showing a weak laser signature from the direction of the camp, it's hitting the ship in some variation on Morse code" said Stevens

"That would be Jeremiah, something must be wrong. Let me see" he said as he walked to the tactical station. "Huh, looks like we have a saboteur at camp. Vital equipment has been destroyed. We need to get this ship to camp ASAP. Work with the Starfleet ensign and get us there now. "

"Sir, even running the deflector and the impulse engines at full we're still an hour away, this ship is hard to move in a tight space," replied Stevens.

"Mister Stevens, if I wanted excuses as to why we're not there I'd ask the star fleet people; if I hear your gums flapping out anything to me other than yes sir I'll have you outside, pushing the ship, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!"

"Yes sir" replied Stevens, meekly. "Helmsman, maneuvering thrusters on port, three second burst; angle the nose 16 degrees down." Stevens said

"Completed; May I make a suggestion?" Ulrik said

"Do as your told Blondie" replied Stevens

"Actually, go ahead, Ulrik" said Bruce

"If we rotated the ship to go under this next big rock, get within 500 meters of the surface the mass of the ship coupled with the magnetic variance of its pole should slingshot us through the next pass faster than impulse alone could do," Ulrik said

"Huh, that should work, let's do it," said Bruce.

"But sir, at that distance if this ensign decides to crash the ship into the surface there will be nothing we can do!" shouted Stevens

"MISTER STEVENS! You are relived of duty. Report to Nelson, he should be in the cargo bay. Mister Nelson? Send someone up here to take over tactical, the pressure seems to have gotten to Mr. Stevens" Bruce said.

"Aye sir" came the response.

"Any interest in joining up Ulrik?" he asked

"No thank you, I am a scientist; I don't think you'd have much use for me, besides my father would be very disappointed in me if I did. No disrespect intended but I just want to get this over as quickly as possible "said Ulrik.

"Tell me the truth, Ensign, you've felt held back haven't you? The Vulcans, the Binars, they keep you from achieving you true glory, and it makes you angry, doesn't it?"

"No Mr. Jackson, it doesn't. The only thing that has ever held me back is myself; I have lots of friends who are of other species, good friends" he said proudly

"I remember being naïve like that, but don't worry; I'm sure you'll have a place in the Daystrom institute or stuck in some lab like that while the real men take back space. Just remember that it's folks like me and my group that will keep you from being the lab specimen." Bruce said, chuckling.

"Approaching large meteorite, spinning ship into trajectory, lowering distance from surface two kilometers, one point five kilometers, one kilometer, seven hundred fifty meters, five hundred meters, impulse to full, relative speed beyond thruster limit, maneuver successful," said Ulrik

"Updated E.T.A., ensign?" said Bruce.

"A direct route will take us 45 minutes to get there, using the slingshot technique we can be in orbit of the camp in 25 minutes, but each time we use it will increase the likelihood of the ship being hit by large space debris by about 15 percent" replied Ulrik.

"Why's that son?" asked Bruce

"the slingshot not only stretches the tight magnetic and gravitational bond between objects, but also pulls surrounding things closer, its possible that some object might not withstand that strain, break and when everything shifts to compensate a large object suddenly ends up occupying a point in space 30 meters into the hull" said Ulrik.

"Great. Well, I'm a gambling man, let's let her roll" said Bruce

Meanwhile, in computer core number 3 "Bera, why do you keep moving to the spots where the plasma arcs hit?" Seja said while working at a terminal.

"Everyone knows lightning never strikes the same place twice!" Bera said, hoping from one scorched metal spot to another.

"Did you not take statistical analysis at the academy?" Seja asked

"No, it was an elective for security path, and all the times it was offered conflicted with classes I was more interested in" she said as she hopped to another scorched spot.

Well, just for your information, the discharges in here are unlikely to be considered lightning as they are not weather related. Also, the burn marks you keep leaping on are where there are plasma conduits coming into contact with the floor plates, thus causing free atmospheric ions to be attracted in a sudden electromagnetic discharge." As she finished her sentence, a bolt came from the ceiling to the spot Bera was about to leap to, and then another to the one she had just left. Bera leaped to the side onto a chair next to Seja, and an energy bolt then hit the spot she had leapt from. Bera, knelt down, hugging her knees, looked at Seja and said with a panicky voice "I love you, please save me!"

"Okay, first, sit down properly in that chair. Next, there's a rubber mat on the floor, place your feet on it, after that notice that cord connected to the desk with the little cloth strip? It's an anti static wrist guard, put it on. The ionization builds up and arcs several times every three hundred and seventy nine seconds. You should be fine now, try to relax." Seja said. Bera quickly obeyed her to the letter. 

"What are you doing?" Bera asked

"Helping the computer worm take the lone wolf's system. While we were climbing I realized that I could manually unlock some of its paths, route them together into specific clusters. Once the worm program stumbles on one of the clusters it instantly has full access and control of all the pathways. I have managed to take control of about seventy-two percent of the computer from the Lone Wolf; forty-eight percent of computer core number one and ninety six percent of computer core two. Once two reaches one hundred percent it sends a false notice to the bridge that core one is entering a diagnostic mode, all systems will automatically reroute to two, it will then use the full resources of the ships system to control core one and the Lone Wolf. I named the program Aconite," Seja said.

"What does that mean?" Bera asked.

"Aconite is the Latin name for an earth flower that is also called wolfsbane," Seja said with a smile.

"Why not just call it wolfsbane?" Bera asked.

Seja rolled her eyes and said, "Because it's more subtle as Aconite."

"Oh, right, gotcha," Bera said, staring blankly at a monitor that was scrolling lines of ones and zeros as Seja was working. Bera sat at the chair, slightly hypnotized by the endless stream of ones and zeros flying by when suddenly Seja shouted "Blaph! No no no that's not right, stop there don't go into that sector! Okay, good, I need to block that sector off" said Seja.

"Something wrong Seja?" Bera asked

"Yeah, apparently the Lone Wolf has anti worm protocols like I've never seen. They have a firewall that I noticed; only it's not a true firewall. A true firewall would just block access, it might set off an alarm that something tried penetration but this; this thing is…something else. If my worm hits it it'll trace it back to the source and then take control of the worm, turning it against its host computer. If I hadn't noticed it all my hard work would be out the vent in moments, Bruce would be on to us and we'd."

"Get shot?" asked a strange voice.

Seja and Bera jumped to their feet only to notice that they were surrounded by Bruce's people.

"Hands in the air, ladies! Bruce, this is Lucas, I'm in computer core three, just found our missing Blue girl and a friend of hers. Bruce? Come in Bruce!"

"He won't be able to read you, there's enough ionic disturbance that you can't get a signal" Seja said

"Who are you? The manifest accounts for everyone but Bera. Wait, you're a Romulan, there's no Romulans in Star Fleet!" Lucas said, shaking his weapon at Seja.

"I'm the first Romulan to graduate from Star Fleet Academy. I graduated Cum Laude from the Academy, I was one of the top two engineering students and the top computer engineers of my class, and this is my home" she said.

"You live in the ships computer? Did you hear that Bill? This ships computer is infested with Romulans, better call an exterminator" he chuckled.

"This ship is my home, the computer is someone I know well, including the timing of its idiosyncrasies," she said, smiling, two seconds later a massive energy bolt arced from the ceiling into the tip of Lucas's weapon, the gun glowed with bright light as the energy overloaded the weapon, it flashed as the power discharged through the man holding it, sending him flying into the wall. His limp body collapsed to the ground and blood began to pool underneath him. The other three terrorists looked at the crumpled and lifeless body of the leader of their party as another arc shot from the ceiling, hitting another man in the weapon barrel, the end results the same, a bloody and broken body lying on the floor.

"It's the guns!" shouted a terrorist as he threw down his weapon. He was hit in the back with a bolt of energy a moment later and fell to the ground.

"No, not the guns, the ship just doesn't like you," said Seja.

The fourth terrorist tossed his weapon aside, fell to his knees and started pleading "please don't let it zap me! Please!"

Seja walked over to his weapon and picked it up, Bera picked up the other non ruined rifle that had been thrown down. "Okay, please sit down against the wall" She said. He quickly sat with his back directly against the wall, shaking nervously. "First, I need your name and rank as well as those of your party" she said

"The man on point was Sergeant Lucas Holden. The second man to go down was Sam, Captain Sam Addams from the Lone Wolf. Then there was Lieutenant Bill Voorhees. I'm

Ensign James Libus" he said.

"Okay Ensign. I will tie you up, render you unconscious, and then store you somewhere where you won't alert anyone. Do you understand?" Seja said to him. He replied with a yes ma'am as she placed restraints on his wrists and ankles and tied a cloth around his mouth.

Bera started to hop up and down excitedly and said "ooh, ooh, do the nerve pinch thingy!"

Seja stopped, turned to her with a bewildered look and said "Bera, I'm Romulan; we don't do the 'nerve pinch thingy', only Vulcans can."

"But Romulans and Vulcans are related, you should be able to!"

"Vulcans have an additional tendon in their wrists that allows them to do that, Romulans technically have that tendon but it never evolved to be useful, I could spend all day trying that move and only end up breaking his collar bone and mutilating his muscles" Seja said. She turned back to the terrorist and began reaching for his neck; he looked at her with a terrified expression. "Don't worry, I'm not going to try, I have a hypo loaded with a sedative. The worst you'll have is unpleasant dreams" she said as she injected him in the neck.

"You could have at least gone through the motions of doing it, and then injected him at the last moment all subtle like" Bera said, sounding slightly disappointed.

"Sorry, next time we capture a terrorist I'll try to make it more entertaining for you. Help me check the rest of them, they could be injured and not dead" she said. The other three terrorists were in fact very obviously dead once the bodies were rolled over. Bera and Seja placed each of the bodies next to one another in an alcove and draped them all with a covering. Their living prisoner was picked up by Bera and placed inside an empty cabinet. Once they finished this Seja's terminal started making a chiming noise. "Oh good, Core two has taken full control of core one, Lone Wolf's computer is at ninety-eight percent conquered, the remaining two percent are the anti-worm firewalls. I can now cause a catastrophic fail in Lone Wolf that will shut their system down for months. I'm not sure the techs at the Corp of Engineers will be able to restart it anytime soon. Looks like we're entering orbit of Bruce's camp, now we just have to wait for Valientine to do his part"

"Valientine? Didn't you hear? He's one of them!" Bera said

"No, actually he's not, but this is the only way we could figure out who's side the remaining members of Omega squad were really with Bruce and which were captured" Seja said.

"How do you know all this?" Bera asked

"It's a long story, but I've had contacts with Star Fleet Intelligence, Valientine, myself and a few others are working various parts of this mission. I really can't get into to much detail, but please trust me" Seja said.

"You're in section 31 aren't you? Are you really an ensign or is it just a cover? Is that why you can't do to nerve pinch thingy?" Bera asked

"No Bera, I'm not part of Section 31. I am really an ensign who not only graduated the same class as you but I sat in the same row during graduation, and like I said before I can't do the nerve pinch cause I'm not Vulcan" Seja said, frustration in her voice.

"Who else is working this mission?" Bera asked

"I can't say" Seja said

"Why not?" Bera asked

"Because I don't know who is and is not involved! Look, it's a bad idea for all the people involved to know who's in, and I can't tell you. What if we got captured and I knew everyone who was involved and had told you? If they tortured us one of us might say something!" Seja said

"All right, I'll stop asking about it" Bera said.

"Thank you" said Seja. She stood up and walked over to the console.

"Seja, do you ever regret not doing the cadet program?" Bera said.

"You mean spending a year on a training ship being constantly watched and evaluated by someone? No, not really. I've heard most of the officers on trainer ships are washed up has-beens who are one step away from being booted out of Star Fleet." Seja said

"Even though it might have been simpler? How often do trainer ships go for weeks on a silent run only to be captured by terrorists?"

"Why did you choose active duty rather than the trainer ship?" Seja asked, folding her arms and turning to look at Bera.

"Well, I guess I felt ready to conquer the universe. My advisor said I'd done well enough in all my classes that I didn't really need it and so I was placed here" she said.

"Exactly. I don't want to brag but I had visits from the chiefs of both the Enterprise and the Excelsior, I wanted a ship that wasn't as famous, so I picked this ship to prove myself on and I don't regret it" Seja said with pride.

"Sometimes I love you. Okay, so what's next?" Bera asked

Seja opened a drawer on the desk she was sitting at and pulled out a small rectangular object. "We wait for further instructions. Do you know how to play a game called hearts?" Seja asked

Daniel saw doctor Neric heading his way, escorted by Commander Valientine. Earlier he had asked the doctor if he could get a hypo of something deadly to use on Valientine and had been given a chuckle. The doctor sat down, his back to Daniel, and was once again restrained. Daniel watched Valientine walk off to a cluster of terrorists, they looked like most of the members of the Omega squad, all but their Captain and Medic. Daniel tilted his head downward and whispered while moving his lips as little as possible "Doc, what's going on?"

Dr Neric replied "it seems that not all the bad guys are that, apparently only about two of the Omegas are true traitors, but with Bruce's group they had the upper hand. This whole thing has been to try and figure out who the two are, neutralize them and Bruce."

"What about Valientine?" asked Daniel.

"He's on our side" replied the doctor

"Aww man, just when I had a reason to dislike him" Daniel said.

"You can't have his job either" replied the doctor

"Okay, that was a joke, I didn't actually think—"

"New Earth, Starfleet, get ready, just got word from Bruce, he'll be here in 45 minutes" bellowed Jeremiah.

Xavier and the Omegas walked toward Jeremiah, stopping no more than two feet from him. "Hey Jeremiah, we need to talk"

Jeremiah was standing next to where Captain Dallas was seated. He turned and looked at Xavier, his wrists resting against his belt. "Yeah, I kinda figured. Remember when I told you that I'd start killing people that were acting suspicious? Well, I got three snipers with their scopes on you. See, unlike Bruce, I don't trust anyone. I left an open communicator on the butt of your doctor, I heard what happened, and just so you know, I already sent the info to Bruce. He trusted you man! He was depending on you and you betrayed him. Do you have any idea how often Bruce bragged about you? He practically sang sonnets about Xavier Valientine, the noble hero who saved him thirty seven times, the man who helped save hundreds of people and let us know whenever Star Fleet was getting nosey. You helped New Earth movement get off the ground. He vested all his hopes in you and you turned on him. I thought you were a man, but you're just like the Breen, you got a block of ice for a heart. Actually that's too generous, you're colder than a Breens-" At that moment Captain Dallas jumped up and directly into the lower back of Jeremiah. He pitched forward just as three separate rifle shots went off. One of the shots grazed Xavier's ear, lodging into the ground. Another of the bullets went through one of the Omegas, just below the shoulder, exiting just below the lowest rib before impacting Jeremiah in the hip, the Omega let out a gurgle of blood and fell dead, Jeremiah let out a scream of pain that could be heard through the camp. The third shot, aim distracted by the commotion hit Captain Dallas in the lower back, exiting just a hair below her navel. She fell to the ground, blood steadily pouring through the wound. Xavier grabbed a device from the belt of Jeremiah and keyed a sequence of commands on it. Suddenly the wrist and ankle restraints on the crew of the Alaska unlocked, falling off as they stood up. The Omega's pulled out antique looking rifles and started to lay down suppressing fire in the directions of the three snipers. Several of the New Earth members that saw what was happening started shooting at the Omegas, only to be shot down by rapidly returned gunfire. Daniel did as he had been told and ran straight for the shuttle he came in on, starting it and all others by remote command. The shuttles phaser banks were showing a full charge, as were the phaser rifles stowed on board. He grabbed several of the rifles, slinging them over his back and charging back to the battle, a phaser rifle in each hand. He began laying down a thick layer of energy bolts from the rifles, giving his shipmates a chance to run for the shuttles. A few people came up to him and were handed one of his spare rifles before they charged back to the action. Within ten minutes the battle was over, ten of the New Earth people been injured and surrendered. Three were dead; Jeremiah was on the ground, unconscious. The five surviving Omegas were once again with the Star Fleet people, helping restrain New Earth.

Doctor Neric had stopped Captain Dallas from bleeding out completely but she wasn't looking good. She had been moved to a tent that was kept sterile just in case of medical emergency although the conditions were just as primitive as the rest of the camp, there were only light painkillers, nothing strong enough to keep a patient sedated for surgery. There were minor cuts into her intestinal walls and a puncture in her abdomen, there was a crack in one disc of her spinal column which was leaking a slow but steady amount of spinal fluid. She was unconscious, pale, breathing shallowly, and non responsive. Three individuals volunteered themselves when a request went out for a blood donor who was type O positive, one of the nurses was drawing the donations and prepping the first aid kit plasma rations. Neric remembered patients in this condition before, he'd assisted his father operating on Bajoran resistance fighters who had been banged up like this, he knew how long the Captain was likely to last and it wasn't good. He would suture up the intestines but had no way outside of his tricorder to monitor for infections or blood poisonings, he certainly had no way to cleanse her blood. The tear in her abdominal wall could be repaired with no problem and was not as big an issue as the crack in her spine. Treating such a leak would require him to take some of her already diminished blood and inject it directly into the crack, a simple enough procedure if one has a clean hypo or an epidural needle. The doctor's med kit had taken a direct hit during the combat and the spare hypos in it had been destroyed. The emergency kits on the shuttles were useless for this purpose, they came with pre loaded hypos that couldn't be modified and no needles. The only hypo he currently had still had traces of Reman pox floating in it with no way to sterilize it, and he didn't see an epidural needle anywhere around, plus with the injury to the intestines potentially contaminating her blood the risk to her brain was even greater. If it wasn't sealed up properly she could loose all her spinal fluid, resulting in her brain slumping to one side, bruising from its own weight against her skull. She would be reduced to a permanent vegetative state if he didn't do something.

Commander Valientine sat by her bed watching her. He held her had and spoke to her "Paige, I wish you had taken my advice and sat this one out, maybe you wouldn't be laying here now. We are about to take the shuttles up and attempt to retake the Alaska. I can only hope that we do it quickly enough to get you into sickbay"

"She's stable but the risk of infection is high. If you have any way of getting her onto the Alaska or for that matter the Lone Wolf now would be a great time" Neric said as he was laying medical tools.

"I can't risk it. I have to say that I'm very disappointed in the medical department right now. Why didn't any of the other medical personnel pack med-kits? We have two nurses and a physician's assistant here; couldn't they have brought their gear?" he asked the doctor.

"They were ordered by doctor Sarel to leave them behind, to prevent potential theft by the enemy. He told me to leave mine behind as well, but I refused. He informed me that I could expect a court martial when I returned" said the doctor who was scanning the captain with his tricorder.

"Right, well, do not worry about that, just get her up and about. Where's MacLaren?" he asked

"He's currently modifying a disruptor. I need a bone fuse to repair her lumbar disc; the disruptor can be modded to do the job" he said, standing up and walking over to the sink.

"Are you seriously going to operate on our ships Captain with a modified disruptor? I've heard of some crazy stunts but this—"

"Commander, I've done this before. A disruptor's beam doesn't put out the same heat as a phaser; it can knit the bone fibers together without boiling her spinal column. There's a reason most Bajoran doctors carried Romulan disruptors" he said while washing his hands.

"Before we go, is there anything else you need?" Xavier asked.

"No sir, I have an assistant ready to go and two people will be outside guarding the door, just don't forget us down here once the smoke clears.

Daniel MacLaren walked into the room, disruptor in hand. He was followed by one of the nurses and several other crewmembers that had been waiting outside peeking in to see the Captain.

"Here you go doc, adjusted as requested" He said, trying to hand it to the doctor.

"My hands are clean, Ensign, stick it into the sterilization chamber before you contaminate the room" he said to Daniel, pointing to the cabinet like device used for cleaning medical equipment. "I need everyone not involved in this operation to leave immediately. Commander, Daniel, good luck" Neric said to the gathering crowd.

The crew all headed to the shuttles, locked the exits and started launching. Omega squad had gotten the frequency that the shuttles needed to transmit at to not be shot down and came up under the Alaska pretty quickly. They saw the Lone Wolf still attached, appearing to have drilled an access hatch straight through the captain's yacht. There was no communication from the Alaska or the shuttles, it would be arrogant to assume that they hadn't been spotted, and each shuttle took a zigzagging spiral path to the shuttle bay.

The first sound they heard was the voice of Ensign Seja say "transmitting on secure frequency 113.2, please adjust"

"Ensign, go to that Frequency" Xavier said to Daniel

"This is the automated weather report from radio Romulus, Three highway men in position inside the pocket, one on ground with two on high; they hear you coming and are ready. Cranky puppy experiencing technical issues with removing their docking clamps, they have a king's compliment, all of which are removed from usefulness. Ship wide we have a reverse dozen wandering about, please see your hostess for tea and double F's are available at your request. Shark is still on bridge with three of ours" the message went before repeating.

"Sir, what the heck did that mean?" one of the Lieutenants asked.

"It's a coded message, Star Fleet regulations state not to transmit uncoded messages over open frequencies, and there's no way anyone can guarantee that the message wouldn't be overheard. Daniel, I believe you can translate that" Xavier said.

"Sir yes sir. Three armed hostiles waiting for us in the shuttle bay, one on ground level and two on the cat walk. Lone Wolf has thirteen hostiles on board but they can't launch and they've gotten locked in their own ship leaving them trapped enemy combatants. There are twenty one hostiles patrolling the ship. We have access to transporters and forcefields, Bruce Jackson is on the bridge with three of our people" he said as he pulled up next to the shuttle bay doors. The other shuttles pulled up near Daniels, in a wedge formation.

"DePalma, you got the door keys" Xavier said over the radio

"I gave them to Vermillion" was the reply

"I don't have them, ask Register" was heard over the radio

.

"Will one of you jokers open the door? We have men waiting patiently for us" said Valientine

"Alright, here we go" came from DePalma.

The doors opened quickly and phaser bolts started coming from three positions. The bolts hit the forcefield that stood between the shuttle bay and the cold deep of space. They kept firing for a few moments and then realized that the shuttles were not moving forward. They stopped firing and just looked at the shuttles with confusion. Then, Daniels shuttle edged forward, sticking just its very tip into and through the shield, the terrorists immediately opened fire again. They didn't stop firing even when they heard the computer say _Warning, vacuum shield overload, failure immanent_. Three seconds later the shield did as threatened, it collapsed causing rapid depressurization, all three hostiles were sucked out into a cold and quick death. All five shuttles came in and landed safely, the shuttle bay doors closed and the room repressurized. The rear hatch opened for each shuttle and the crew stared disembarking two at a time, first two members on the right side, then two on the left, then the final one out the right side. Each crewmember held their phaser rifle high, they fanned out checking all points.

"Clear" shouted Lieutenant Register and all eyes shifted to the main door leading out into the corridor. They gathered around the door, some kneeling, some pressing their backs to the wall, all eyes on the door as Register took point and advanced.

DePalma opened a tricorder and scanned the door, "no signs of life within 30, no explosives and no electronics" he said before Michael reached for the control panel next to the door. He keyed a sequence on the panel and then said aloud "this is Lieutenant Michael Register, Security clearance eight-zero-seven-bravo-six, intruder alert, lockdown foxtrot tango whiskey ordered"

"Authorization acknowledged, awaiting confirmation from Captain or First Officer and Second Officer" replied the computer

"First Officer Commander Xavier Valientine Security clearance three-four-Delta-nine-alpha-five confirming lockdown foxtrot tango whiskey" Xavier said

"Awaiting confirmation from Captain or Second Officer" replied the computer

"Lieutenant Commander Eric Vermillion Security clearance Lima-Eight-Romeo-Delta-Zero-Zero-Delta confirming lockdown foxtrot tango whiskey" said the Lieutenant Commander.

The computer then chimed an acknowledgement and then opened the door before them. They walked down the hallway towards the turbolift. Each time they came to an intersection of halls a force field at the edge of the corridor would deactivate for them and reactivate once the last Starfleet person had passed it. It wasn't until the third intersection that they encountered any of the New Earth people, who were trapped in a force field shielded corridor. The Alaska's automatic defense system included ceiling mounted phasers that were firing at the terrorists, but the ship didn't seem to be locking on. The New Earth people switched from firing at the ceiling phaser to firing at Register as soon as he approached, but their shots simply bounced back at them.

Commander Valientine called out "Drop your weapons and give up," before they started firing directly at him. He hit his communicator badge and then said out loud "Radio Romulus, can you take care of the party crashers two meters from me?"

"Yes sir, wave bye as our guests head to holding cell three" Seja replied. The Terrorists shimmered as they beamed out of their positions, their weapons and clothes fell to the ground.

"Um, Radio Romulus, did you not get a signal lock on their clothes?" DePalma asked.

"Too risky sir, they could have a hidden weapon, and I have no way to frisk them. You guys might want to avoid the turbo lifts, a coded signal just went out from the bridge, I can't decode it but I'm getting readings that suggest explosives have been placed in the shafts,"

"Thank you Romulus; can you beam us closer to the bridge?" Valientine asked.

"Yes sir, I can get you to deck 12 without being blocked, there is a team of terrorists on that deck right in front of the Jefferies tube that leads to the bridge," she said.

"Okay, put us two corridors down from them,"

"Okay, get ready to go in hot and heavy," she said.

They shimmered for a moment in the light of the transporter beam before appearing several decks higher. The terrorists saw them immediately and opened fire at Lieutenant Register, who was still on point.

"Put down your weapons!" Register shouted at them, they simply kept firing at him. One of the New Earth people pressed several buttons on his phaser before throwing it at the shield, Michael realized that the terrorist was keying an overload sequence and shouted "DOWN NOW!" before dropping to the ground. The phaser impacted the shield and exploded, overpowering the barrier and bending the walls of the corridor. The blast had also taken out three of the terrorists including the thrower; four more were now opening fire. DePalma and Vermillion were the first ones back up and returning fire, soon joined by the rest of the away team. One by one the remaining terrorists were hit by phaser fire and dropped to the ground until there was only one left. The remaining man ran down a side corridor instead of surrendering and was attempting to open a Jefferies tube hatch before the crew caught him. Lieutenant Rozenski tied him up after taking his phaser and communicator.

"Radio Romulus, status report" called out Commander Valientine.

"Ah… Sir, this is uh, DJ Blue, the assistant for radio Romulus. She's a little busy," A steady stream of expletives in the Romulan tongue could be heard in the background. "Apparently that explosion triggered some sort of counter insurgency program, and she has to fight the system to keep it from designating all life on the ship as intruders. There are seven hostiles remaining plus their leader. The hostiles are all on higher decks and heading to the bridge. Ship wide systems are having difficulty, it looks like all force fields are down and the computer is unresponsive. Sorry guys, looks like you'll be doing things the hard way from now on"

"Tell him about the boots!" was heard in the background.

"Oh, yeah, um, at Jefferies tube door 1248 we placed several pairs of boots, they are the magnetic soled boots with jet sides for variable gravity environments, I think she has plans that involve you and the others wearing those boots" Bera said

"Alright, will do," Valientine said. The party walked to the Jefferies tube and opened the hatch, finding exactly the right number of pairs of boots sitting there. They put on the boots, each pair self adjusting to the size of the individuals foot. They entered the tube and just as the last person entered all the gravity on the floor turned off. With Lieutenant Register still leading the party they jet propelled themselves down the tube and up to a ladder. There were three New Earth members floating in the zero g atmosphere , on tried aiming a disruptor at Michael but only shot the wall as he spun, unable to control his direction. He received a single blast from DePalma's phaser set to stun, his comrades were relieved of their weapons before the party left them behind to watch their unconscious friend. The away team reached deck two, the under bridge which was nothing but a service conduit used for repairing all the devices that route through the bridge There were three passageways that connect deck two to the bridge directly, one in the captains ready room, one in the bridge water closet, and the third directly behind the main viewscreen there was also a hatch into the turbo lift shaft, but this port locked whenever the turbo lift was in operation.. The team huddled for a moment for planning, the only plan they saw ahead was very risky and they expected casualties. They agreed to divide into four parties of three, one led by Register would come up from behind the viewscreen, one lead by Vermillion would come up through the captains ready room, Valientine's party would come up into the turbo shaft and then onto the bridge and DePalma's group would assault through the restroom. The team members divided off knowing there was a good chance they might not all survive...

Back at the camp, the doctor had finished sealing Captain Dallas's wounds and had given her a strong dose of a general antibiotic, hoping that it would neutralize anything harmful that may have leaked from intestine into blood stream. She did not look good, she was pale with a weak pulse, her breathing was shallow and she was sweating profusely. She had blood poisoning from the intestinal leak and he had discovered during surgery that the spinal disc that was leaking fluid was nearly shattered and would need further work once she was in a proper medical bay. He had done the best he could but most patients with this extent of injuries did not survive more than three hours without a modern surgical bay, and she was nearly guaranteed paralysis below the waist. Her fate now rested in force beyond his control, now it was time to pray...

To Be Continued…

(what, you expected a happy ending?)


End file.
